Bearcat 250D

[captmike]

I'm only 4 miles from the airport and having a hard time receiving certain tower freq's. The squelch must be off to receive some tower functions.

I'm a commercial airline pilot so I would appreciate discussions on what I can do to increase receivability.... better antenna (stock on now)..way to hook up to external antenna....all of the freqs on the air bands are set to AM....would changing have any effect on receivability.....of course I would check that but will not be at the scanner until the weekend. Thanks in advance.

 

[AZScanner]

I'm only 4 miles from the airport and having a hard time receiving certain tower freq's. The squelch must be off to receive some tower functions.

Antenna, antenna, antenna.

A stock whip is simply a "better than nothing" antenna. It's designed to pull in strong local signals only. For optimum results, get an antenna designed for the band you're most interested in.

For the airband, a simple telescoping metal antenna from RS might be just your ticket: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=20-006

These are cheap, available everywhere and work well for just about any band you want just by extending or collapsing the sections accordingly. I'ved used mine on my 250 with good results - much better than the stock antenna, especially on the lower bands.

A quick google search reveals some overseas vendors (airscanning is HUGE over there) that sell dedicated airband antennas for handheld scanners. I've never tried one of those.

Of course, also check your attenuator settings. I've turned mine on by accident before and then wondered why the scanner was so deaf... Never hurts to check that.

HTH's and have fun!
-AZ